"Once more." Brennon said to me, having me draw back with the bow in my fingers and have it touch my cheek as I aimed at the fake dummy I made for the lesson. Days went by as we traveled some more, going through the woods and getting closure to the North and farther from the South. Yoren led the caravan with discipline, everyone having a chore. I even helped with mending shirt and pants, although Brennon was hesitant at first but the men were thankful for me helping. They called me Ava the Sincere now, having me smile from my spot with a shirt in hand. Slowly they were warming up to me, and the fear was dimming.

Gendry and I spoke that night after we talked in the clearing, mostly about why I was with the caravan and what happened with him. It was good to talk to someone whom wasn't Brennon and breathing down my neck for safety. He was kind enough, keeping a good distance from me and listening to all that I had to say. I did the same with him, thinking that he too needed someone to talk to that wasn't Arya or Hotpie, but I could tell the two of them saw him as a companion, whether he liked it or not. After we spoke about our reasons for not being in King's Landing anymore, we got to talking then about our trades, what we liked or didn't like about it, and other mindless chatter. For me, that was a escape from the fear that was following me, and it felt so nice just to talk, although I knew I was starting to have feeling towards him. It wasn't right not now then I was since I was playing a role and he knew that. But I couldn't help but think about the fact that we both were lowborns….so there was no barrier between the two of us…there might of been a possibility.

"Loose!" He said, having me release the bow and hit off the target…once again. I sighed, lowering the bow and seeing Brennon eye me from his spot on my left. We made a small area to the left, away from the large group so I could practice before we moved again. Brennon thought I was doing good, but I was a person of perfection. I wanted to be perfect at it, since I was too stubborn to let mediocre come into my life. But Brennon was encouraging, telling me tricks as to how I can aim better and how to not tense up in my arms when I draw back. I listened urgently, taking his words into account and knowing that I could get better and better every time. My fingers were getting sore and bruised from the bow, having me feel the ache when I sleep at night or when I mend another piece of clothing for a caravan worker. Even Yoren would pop in and watch as I got better and better day by day.

"I missed." I groaned, seeing him smile and walk to the dummy.

"And you thought you would be a marksman after a couple of days?" He asked me in amusement, pulling out the arrow from the dummy and walking back to me, handing it to me and I eyed him.

"Better than this." I said stubbornly. He nodded his head, handing me the bow.

"You did far better than the first time, you did almost hit me." He reassured me, having me roll my eyes as I drew back once more, "If I didn't know better, you had the Stark Stubbornness in you."

"I don't mind that." I replied, releasing the arrow, seeing it hit the dummy a bit closer now. I wanted to smile, but I was too occupied for being perfect.

"See!" I said in a groan, pointing to where my arrow was, "I doubt I could kill a man there!"

"But you could wound them." Both Brennon and I looked, seeing that it was Arya, or Arry, walking towards us with Gendry right behind her, having me lower the bow and watch her as she approached me. I never had time to talk to her, not for awhile since we first met up in the Caravan. And then, seeing Gendry behind her like a obedient dog, made me heart flutter slightly as she looked right at me.

"You know archery?" Brennon asked her aloud, leaning back on his back leg and eyeing her.

"A bit. I was taught when I was younger, although my mother didn't condone it." She replied back to him. Thankfully they knew each other beyond the titles and the lies, and Brennon was just as concerned for her as he was for me.

"Where you shot, that can slow a man down. And if you hit a artery, that could potentially kill them." She explained walking over to the bow and showing where a artery was using Needle as her tool,

"How did you know that?" I asked her aloud.

"Jon and Robb taught me that," She said in a shrug, "Killing them in one shot is priority, but wounding them is just as useful."

"Milday's right." Gendry said aloud to me in a soft tone, having me look from Arya to Gendry.

"Don't call me that, stupid bull!" She said in a huff as she walked back over to me, "Besides, what makes you want to learn bow and arrow anyways?"

"Better to know how to defend myself than to be useless here." I explained to her, seeing her look at me with confusion and then at Brennon.

"It was her idea." He said in a shrug, having me eye him from my spot and then walk over to the dummy to grab the arrow.

"You have a better weapon for me to use?" I asked aloud, as if there was another good one. I looked back at the group, seeing the three of them loo at me with confused looked as well: the knight, blacksmith and Stark girl. But then I saw Gendry snap his fingers, struck with a idea.

"Her dagger." he said aloud, walking over to me and pointing to my hip where I had my dagger that I used for mending the shirts and shorts. He took it out of his holder on my hip, holding it up to the light between us and having me watch him examine it.

"It's dull, not very useful if it's dull." He said aloud, having me snatch it from his gasp by the handle.

"It's not much as a weapon though." I argued aloud.

"It's better than nothing in case your bow and arrow is out of range." Brennon explained to me, seeing where Gendry was going with this. I eyed him, seeing him walk over to me and gently take the arrow from my hand and handing it to Arya, along with grabbing my bow as well from my fist.

"You hit it in the right area, like Arya said, and you can have permanent damage on them." He explained to me, showing me the dagger in my hand and having a reassuring tone in his voice as he said it, "I'll show you how to damage, if not kill." I nodded my head, seeing a small smile on my face to have another weapon on my hand. Gendry walked over to the both of us, pointing to the dagger with his dirty finger.

"I can sharpen it for you, if you wish." He said in a light tone, as if he wanted to help. It sounded so, since he did bring up the idea of me having a dagger in hand. I smiled at him, a small smile that I haven't used in a long time, the kind of time that should my contentness on where I was.

"Thank you." I said to him aloud, seeing him nod his head at me.

"Brennon, where are you man!" We heard off int he distance, having Gendry move away from me as Brennon stalked off, eyeing me for a moment before he left. It was Yoren, and they just of wanted another pep talk before we moved on to another spot.

"Keep Practicing, and don't loose your head." He said over his shoulder in a joking tone, having me want to tick my tongue at him but then again I was trying to be a lady. As he walked off, Gendry was already looking at the dagger with his fingers and eyes, having me see that he was already fixing it in his head.

"Arya." I asked aloud, seeing her already pulling back on the bow and aiming at the dummy as Gendry leaned against a tree with the dagger.

"Yes Nora." She said aloud, her eye on the target and not moving.

"What do you think is going to happen to you, I mean, when you get back to Winterfell?" I asked her aloud, seeing Gendry freeze and look up from his spot as well. Arya didn't move, but she released the arrow and brought the bow down, staring right at me.

"I don't know, Nora. But I'm just glad I get to go home." I looked from her to the target, seeing where he it.

Bullseye.

I could hear noises around me, not pleasant ones. It shook me awake from my dream, if only I could remember what the dream was. But I blinked a few times, pulled the cloak over my shoulders more as I rose from the ground I was on, looking around to see what was going on. Shots and screams were heard around me, having me shoot up and look behind me. Brennon was not there, having me worry now as I heard a fight away from me towards the caravan. Were we being invaded? I grabbed the bow and a couple of arrows that were given to me as practice, only because I knew that I had to have something working for me. Gendry already sharpened the dagger for me, so I attached that to my hip as I crawled through the bushes towards the noise. A part of me wanted to run away and hide until it was all over, but I couldn't since I was alone and I ended to find Brennon and see if he was okay. What about Arya? Or even Gendry?

I pushed through the leaves that were hiding me, only to crouch low and throw up the hoodie I was wearing and watch in horror as we were being attacked by unknown forces. There was armor on the invaders, so they of been somewhere South from what I saw. King's Landing? Who knew, but there was mass chaos around, and I looked around everywhere for Brennon, or even Arya, praying to the Old Gods that they were spared. But the harder I looked, the less I was confident: Brennon was nowhere to be found.

My eyes settled on a body that was on the floor, seeing that it was Yoren and he was already dead and gone. This was beyond terrible, now where were they going to go? People were running around left and right, swords were clashing together and blood was being spilt. I never want do be a part of this, but my mind was far too occupied when a soldier stood in front of me, towering over me with a glare in his eyes.

"Get over here!" He said in a gruff, grabbing my by my hair and hiving me up fem the ground. I screamed out, feeling the pain on his head as he pulled me up to my feet and placed a dagger on my neck, about to strike. This would be over quicker than I thought, but before he could slit my throat someone slammed something hard into his neck, having me drop the dagger and fall to the floor in a slump, releasing my hair and setting me back on the ground. I looked to see who it was: Gendry. He had a large rock in his hand, looking at me with wide eyes and almost a look of murder, then slamming the rock down on the guard's face to have me see blood. He stood back up, his hand now covered in blood, and stared at me. He was out of breath, having me see that he already fought a bit with what was going on since he was harboring sweat on his brow and his hands were shaking.

"You okay?" He asked me aloud, concern was in his voice. He was making sure I was alright, in the middle of all of this chaos. It was silly for him to do such a thing, since I thought he should be looking out for himself. I was about to answer him when I saw another soldier run up behind him, about to strike him with the sword over his head and a glare in his eyes. I threw up my bow, drew back and before I could think, released. The arrow flew past Gendry and slammed into the neck of the soldiers, whom dropped the sword and fell, blood spewing form his mouth. Gendry and looked with amazement at the dead solider, whom I killed. I did it within seconds, without even thinking, and now I killed a man. I murdered someone, Sophia would be proud. My soul was no longer pure.

I had blood on my hands.

"Where's Brennon and Arya?" I asked him aloud, seeing him look back at me, still in shock that I killed someone. He shook it off as I had another arrow loaded, in case now that I had to kill another person in order to stay alive.

"Arya was with me, we saw Yoren get killed. I haven't seen Brennon." He explained to me, having me nod my head, my breathing was now erratic with worry and confusion as to what to do now.

"We need to find them." I said to him walking past him and past the two dead bodies now against us, hearing him follow me and we moved to the middle of the mass chaos. Some of the blood that splattered on me from the solider Gendry killed was still on my dress, moist and drenching, so I grabbed some with my spare hand and smeared it on my face so not be recognized. The last thing I needed was to be seen and to be known, but I doubted that was going to happen. I looked less like a Lady and more like a orphan girl now, what I needed.

We only got in a few feet before we were surrounded by soldiers, all whom had swords drawn and aimed right at us. Gendry and I were in the middle with several other captives, having em feel the terror that we were captives now.

"Drop your weapons or you die." One of them said aloud, having me release my bow and arrows, hearing them drop to the floor as the other captives dropped their rocks and daggers. We lost this battle, and I could only imagine what was going to happen next as I watched one of the soldiers look over a smaller boy. I knew that boy, he talked to Arya and the others a couple of times. He was so small, but the soldier killed him in cold blood because the poor boy couldn't walk. I heard him gasping for air as the metal pierced him, Gendry grabbing my hand and pulling him close to me, having me feel his warm body against my own side by side. He even pushed me behind him slightly to have me a hidden, since I was in a fact a young girl and I could have a worse punishment. I had no idea if I was going to survive this night now, it was up in the air. With Gendry clenching my hand in a death grip, I saw Arya stand on my other side, having me touch her shirt hesitantly and with a shaky finger to show her that I was there. She was looking in horror as her friend was slain, almost shaking in anger as a soldier approached us.

"We're looking for a Bastard named Gendry." He said in a booming voice, "Give him up, or I'll start taking eyeballs." I squeezed Gendry's hand in mine, in fear that I would lose him too. I couldn't loose him, not now. Brennon was who knows where, probably dead or worse. It would be a miracle if I saw him again, and Gendry and Arya were all that I had now. So to know that he would be taken from me was the thing I needed.

"You want Gendry?" I heard from my other side, seeing that it came from Arya. She was stoned faced, playing the part as she pointed her hand to the boy's dead body int he grass, "You already got him." I saw next to the boy, a shining object. It was Gendry's helmet, the soldier must of snagged it and used it to find him. I closed my eyes in a point of relief, thinking that this was already over with and done for. My future was looking less golden and safe, and I had no ideas where I was going to be. Either alive and back at home, which was highly unlikely, or dead in the middle of nowhere. Who knew, but I could only hear the next thing from Arya, which had a sting of sarcasm and bitterness.

"He loved that helmet."